The Girl Who Wouldn't Kill
by The-Purple-Panda-Frog
Summary: Analise O'Brien has always been quiet and shy. She's nothing special, so why is she being offered the chance of a lifetime, the chance to see the stars?
1. The Moth

"Stop!"

The cry was shrill and sudden. Around the rickety grocery store, people's heads snapped up in surprise at the sudden noise, some of them with worried eyes, some of them just interested. All of them turned back to their shopping, an annoyed frown on their face, save for one man in a tweed jacket and a bow tie holding a box of fish fingers.

The sudden noise had come from a girl, around 18 years, her dark flyaway hair falling in front of her freckled face and gray-blue eyes. Her long sleeved green tee shirt was bunched up around her elbows, and she wore the signature apron of a store employee. "Don't kill it." she pleaded, her hands cupped around something on a display table.  
The assailant was a large, bald, overweight man. He brandished his weapon, a rolled up newspaper, high above his head, and his face was screwed in confusion and annoyance.  
"Are you _serious_?" he growled, keeping the newspaper above his head, "It's just a moth! Get your hands off the table and let me kill it!"  
The girl looked around self-consciously, hoping no one was looking. She turned her eyes back to the man. "You're right, Bruce, it is just a moth... it didn't do anything. Please just let me bring it outside, I-I'll work an extra shift." Her body tensed nervously, in anticipation of rebuttal.

The man in the bowtie leaned against a pillar, intrigued.

The man, Bruce, slowly lowered the newspaper, his eyes shooting daggers at the girl. "_Two_ extra shifts." he barked, "And get that bug outside as fast as you can. We're losing daylight!"  
The girl's face broke into a grin. She carefully cupped her hands around the moth- it would be a shame if it broke loose and she had to catch it again- and quickly stepped out the door. The man in the bowtie followed, and looked outside of the door.  
She gently opened her palms, letting the weak autumn sunlight bathe them. The moth flickered to life, lingering on the girl's hand for a moment, then spreading its dusky brown wings and taking off.  
She looked after it, her eyes somewhere far away and lips turned upwards in a wistful smile, before Bruce's loud call jolted her back to reality. She brushed her dark hair behind her ear and hurried back inside.

The man frowned, juggling his box of fish fingers from hand to hand. If he went up and talked to her, he could change her life. But was he ready for another companion, after-  
He cut himself off. No use thinking about things that had already passed.  
The girl was taking multicolored cans out of a box now, and stacking them up on a shelf. The man in the bowtie strided up to her, bent down, and tapped her on the back with a flourish. The girl jumped, made a high little squeaking sound, and shifted her legs into something that looked like a fighting stance. She sighed. "Sorry," she said quietly, "You startled me." Tilting her head to the side, she asked, "Do you want... do you need any help?"

The man stood back up to his full height, somewhat surprised. She didn't _seem_this easily frightened before...

"Ah, yes, sorry there, just wanted to ask you if you had any custard? Couldn't find any earlier."

Her hand darted up to her hair, and she began to tug on it self-consciously. "Um... hmm. I don't think anyone's ever asked for custard before." she said, her eyes nervous, "I'll have to go check."

The man grinned. "Alright then, thank you very much... err, I don't believe I caught your name?"

"It's Analise," The girl replied, "Most people just call me Annie."

"Analise. Lovely name. Means 'grace'." The man said, "I'm The Doctor."

Annie chuckled softly at the meaning of her name, as she always did. It was ironic- grace for the girl who could barely walk ten feet without tripping. She tilted her head slightly, however, at the man's name. Weirder things had happened, this _was_ New York after all, but nearly everyone she'd met had an actual name. He didn't especially act like a doctor either, but she shrugged, and let it pass.  
"A-all right then, Mr. Doctor, come with me. I'll go ask about custard."  
"Oh, it's just 'The Doctor' or 'Doctor'. None of that 'Mister' rubbish, please."  
She nodded, pushing her hair out of her face. "Sorry."  
"Not to worry, it's fine. And also, one more thing," The Doctor said, "Did you just save a moth?"  
Annie blushed, her eyes shifting to look at the floor and her hands flying to her hair. The Doctor was beginning to think it was a nervous reflex now. "O-oh, you saw that?" She said, glancing down at the floor, "I wanted... I hoped no one would."  
"I don't see why not, nothing wrong with it, but why did you? You just sacrificed hours of your free time- if I'm correct that a shift is several hours- for the life of a single, insignificant moth that might not even live a day. Why?" The bowtied man inquired.

The girl frowned. No one had thought to ask her _why_ she did these things, it wasn't even something that _she_ thought about.

"I guess I don't think it's right for me to decide when something lives or dies," Annie said carefully, "It hadn't done anything. I-I just put myself in the moth's shoes, so to speak, I guess. I'm in... I'm in a strange place, don't know how I got there, and then suddenly some giant decides I don't deserve to live. It's just not right. Not..."

"Moral?" The Doctor asked.

She nodded.

The Doctor twirled suddenly, spinning on his heels and causing Annie to jump again. His eyes glittered with the light of an idea.

"So, Annie," He said, ancient eyes twinkling, "How would you like to go on an adventure?"

[First story, Please read and review! I'm kind of nervous to be putting it on here, honestly. Oh well, tell me if you like it! Also, please tell me if there's anything I can do to characterize Eleven better, I haven't seen too many episodes. #newtowho]


	2. The Thug

Hours later, when the night had already fallen, they walked down an alleyway. The girl was on-edge, she had grown up in New York, after all, even if it wasn't this particular city. She could never relax around strangers, and this one had begun talking about taking her on "adventures."

She was slightly- no, _extremely _nervous to find out what that meant.

Even so, even with all of the horror stories and the victims and the families on the news, she still felt like she could trust this man. Maybe it was his quirky sense of style, his suspenders and his bow tie in the 21st century, maybe it was his childish glee at everything that passed, from an oddly shaped flower to a bird feather, or maybe it was simply his British accent. She had a feeling though, that it was the eyes. Some people you could just look into their eyes and see nothing but petty thoughts, things that were insignificant in the long run. His eyes weren't like that. They were deep and green, laced with pain and sadness and loss. Still full of love, she noted, and joy was abundant. He seemed happy enough, though whether this was just a facade, she couldn't tell.

He was just walking her home now, to her sorry little flat in a bad part of the city. She could have had a better place to stay, could've stayed on her college campus, but that would have cost too much, at least more than she could afford.

"So why are you working at that grocery store?" The Doctor asked, swinging his grocery bag full of fish fingers and custard, "You're certainly young enough to have plenty of opportunity. Is selling food your calling?"

Annie laughed, albeit nervously. "No, no... I'm paying, I mean, I'm putting myself through art school. The store helps me pay for my tuition."

The Doctor looked delighted. "Ah, so you're an _artist_! Brilliant, the world always needs more of those. Helps spread messages and such. The little things, that's what really counts, in the end." He frowned. "You don't have anyone to help you, though? No one to pay for some of it?"  
Annie tugged her hair. "My parents," she said, "They're paying a third of it. I took another third out in loans, and the last third was a scholarship. I've got two little siblings. They're both going away to college, too. I can't take too much money from my parents, they all need it too much."  
"And so you're taking it upon yourself to pay them back. Very admirable." He said, bouncing on his heels. "I believe we're almost to where you said your house is. Now, as it just so happens, _my_ house is right nearby. Well, it's sort of a house. Not really. But I live in it!"  
She giggled, her long arms crossed against her chest. The Doctor grinned and straightened his bowtie.

And then suddenly there was someone in front of them, big, with beefy arms and dark clothes on and a mask. The Doctor's twin hearts skipped a beat when he saw the glint of metal in the man's black jacket.

_He_ might be able to survive bullets, but that didn't mean anyone could. He glanced over his shoulder at Annie.

Her face had gone completely white, her freckles standing out in stark contrast from the pale sheet of her face. She breathed shallowly, her grey-blue eyes wide and frightened.

"A-ah, Hello!" The Doctor said, his cheerful demeanor somewhat lessened. "We're actually on our way home now, so if you don't mind-"

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a gleaming silver gun. "Shut up." he growled roughly, pointing it at The Doctor.

The Doctor paid no heed to this, and continued talking, as well as pacing in circles. "Why _are _you pointing that thing at me? What is it that you want? Money? Oh, I've got none of that. Besides, you could be doing so much more with your life. You could have a job, a wife, a fami-"

The man fired his gun at the ground. "I said, shut up."

The Doctor jumped, his floppy hair falling in front of his face and his jacket swinging against his sides. Annie looked badly shaken, her hands raised in submission.

The man's cold brown eyes looked over the two strangers. "You." he said, pointing his gun at Annie.

The girl squeaked, trembling.

"Get in." He growled, gesturing with his head towards a van parked haphazardly and dangerously close to the side of the alley.

"Now hold on just a minute," The Doctor said, stepping in between the man with the gun and Annie, "This girl's my friend, and I think it's a very bad idea to just up and take her right in front of me. You see," He was pacing again, "I don't handle violence very well. I don't like to be violent, I don't want to be. But if you hurt my friends, if _anyone_ hurts my friends," He came close to the other man, "They _will_ be sorry."

The man scowled and lowered his gun, and The Doctor grinned in triumph. And then there was a click as the trigger was pulled, and the pain exploded in his knee, and he was falling, and he thought heard a cry of pain, though whether it was from himself of Annie, he couldn't be sure.

Annie looked downwards in horror at The Doctor, who had collapsed on the ground with a cry of agony, clutching his knee. She tried to scream, alert someone, _anyone_, to what was happening, but no sound would leave her throat.

"Into the van," The man hissed, the barrel of his gun pointing straight for The Doctor's left heart, "Or I'll shoot him again, and this time it will be fatal."

The girl stepped forward shakily, her hands up and her back hunched. Slowly, taking baby steps, she came in front of the man.

"Good," he crooned, "your friend will be fine if you keep that up."

Her face contorted in anger.

So fast he didn't know it was happening, the man's gun was wrenched from his grasp, he was kicked, elbowed and punched, not to mention he had heard a sickening crunch in his arm. Not even a minute had passed, and suddenly he was on his knees, doubled over in pain, the girl standing over him with the gun, _his_ gun, pointed straight at his head.

"Don't move." she warned, her voice low and angry.

A short side-kick to his head, and the man was slumped on the street, out cold. Annie threw the gun the other way, in case he woke up anytime soon, and ran over to the man in the bowtie, who had managed to sit up at this point. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was hanging open in the shape of an _O_. "D-doctor!" Annie cried, "A-are you okay?" She knelt in front of him, shaking, the adrenaline wearing off.

"A-ah, yeah, I'm alright. Hurts, but pain, ah, it's temporary. But blimey! You might have mentioned you could do that earlier, that whole ninja thing! Seriously, you took 'im down in _seconds_! Mad!" He winced and hissed in pain as he shifted, "Granted I've met real ninjas- _that_ was interesting, but still! You were just, and then, and wow!"

The girl grinned only for a moment, then frowned at The Doctor's bleeding knee. "Well, I'm a second degree black belt. Been taking karate since I was nine." She dug through her purse, and pulled out a rather old cell phone.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around his bloodied knee. Annie shushed him, then began to speak into the phone.

"H-hi, my name's Analise O'Brien and I'd like to report an attack? Yes, um... I'm in an alleyway. I don't know the street names, exactly. Sorry! N-no, I managed to fight him off... how? I'm a black belt, but um... my... my friend is hurt. He got shot in the kne-"

The Doctor reached up and snatched the phone from Annie's grasp. Annie yelped, and reached for it back, but The Doctor pushed her away. "Yes, sorry about that, prank call! Goodbye!" he yelled into the phone, snapping it shut and tossing it away. It clattered on the street.

"Wha... Why the _hell_ would you do that?" Annie squealed, reaching for her phone, "You're hurt, and there's a guy who threatened to _kill you_ unconscious on the street! We need to tell someone!"

"Nope," said The Doctor, "Nope. Not the first time someone's tried to off me, happens more times than I can count, honestly I get tired of it sometimes, but no. I can't go to a normal hospital. I... well, I wouldn't fit in. I'm an anomaly, at least here. See, ah, here's the tricky part... I'm not... I'm not _human_."

The girl looked at him incredulously. "Now isn't really a good time to be joking around." she said flatly, her phone in her lap.

"Not joking," he hissed, pressing down on the wound. Annie noted that the blood had seeped through his jacket, and his face was paler than it had been before.

"_Okay_..." she drew out the word, "whatever you are, you're still hurt. But if you won't let me get you to a hospital," said Annie, "Then at least let me help you back to your house. You said it was nearby, right?"

"Two blocks forward, first stop on your right," He gasped, holding onto her arm for balance and support.

"What?"

"You heard me, didn't you? Geronimo!"

"There's... there's nothing there, Doctor. I walk past it every day."

"Aha, long story there, but the main point of it is that my house is... err, portable, and there right now, and has some medical supplies. For me."

She shrugged, put his arm around her shoulders and hoisted him to his feet with a grunt. "Tell me if anything hurts more, and we'll stop." She said, giving him a worried glance out of the corner of her eye.

The girl and the man staggered the last block, leaving a thin trail of blood.

[Yay, second chapter! Originally this was taking place in NYC, but after last night's episode I don't think that will work any more. Maybe Brooklyn? I'll figure it out. The Doctor is a little bit less boyish than he usually is because this is supposed to be recent, after his most recent companion's departure. I'm not sure if this is taking place after Clara or the Ponds, though. Also, how did I do with the thug? I don't usually write about people like that, and I don't know if it was completely realistic, but never apply logic to Who. Thanks for reading!]


	3. People

Annie huffed as she trudged down the street. She was strong and fit, yes, but _strong and fit_ did not translate to _able to walk several blocks while all but carrying a fully grown man with about as much coordination of a newborn giraffe in a bouncy castle_. Not to mention said man was flailing about and complaining rather loudly. She shot him a glare, they had already run into one thug tonight, and some of her neighbors weren't the friendliest people.

The Doctor poked his tongue out at Annie childishly. She gave him a narrow look, her legs trembling.

Now was _not_ the time to be joking around.

They rounded the corner, and Annie stopped dead. Where the day before there had been nothing- where six _hours_ ago there had been nothing, there now stood a tall, old English style royal blue Police Box. She examined it, her eyes running up and down the wooden surface. No wheels, no car that it was attached to, no way to move it.

"Is this it?" Annie asked, glancing at the box curiously.

"Yep, that would be my home."

"How can you live in there? It's not... big enough."

The Doctor chuckled. "Come along, help me up, and I'll show you."

He snapped his fingers, and the box hummed, the light on its top flickering to life. The doors creaked, opened inwards. The girl gasped.

"This is my TARDIS," boasted The Doctor, his chest puffing out in pride, "Stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. And she's-"

"Bigger on the inside..." Annie whispered, her eyes wide.

He laughed. "I really do love it when people say that. Right then, that's the console, and that's a hallway, the pool is that way and the kitchen is the other way." The Doctor spun around, as much as he could while on one leg, anyway. "Those white doors over there, those are the doors to the medical bay. Stay right here, I'll be back in a moment!" and with that, he hobbled over to the pristine double doors, using the console for support, and vanished behind the gleaming white surface.

Annie glanced around, still shocked from what had just happened. "This isn't..." she laughed wryly, her hands on her temples, "This _shouldn't_ be possible."

She stepped around the console, her sneakered feet squeaking on the glass floor. Her eyes darted around the room, the enormous, _impossible_ room, in search of a chair. Not finding any, Annie plopped to the floor with a _whump_. She sat indian-style, long legs crossed, dark hair falling in her face, her head in her hands.

"What the _hell_." she choked out. She didn't curse, not usually, and even saying "Hell" twice in one day was unusual for her. But all _this_, the man in the bowtie, the thug with the gun, the proud, tall Police Box that was bigger on the inside, all this happening in one day was just a bit too much for her to take. She leaned her head back against the rim of the console, closing her eyes. "Okay," she said, taking a deep breath, "Three explanations for this. One, I've gone completely insane. Absolutely crazy. Bonkers."

She twiddled her thumbs.

"Two. I'm asleep right now, and this is all some crazy dream that I won't even remember when I wake up in the morning."

She chewed on a strand of hair nervously.

"Three. This is all real, and I've just helped some hurt alien thing back to his old Police Box which is actually a... um, TARNIS? No, no, _TARDIS_. His TARDIS."

She sighed, shifting her feet. "I really hope it's not one, two is the most likely, and three..." she trailed off. "It can't be three. This can't be real."

A slight swooshing sound drew her attention away from her thoughts. The Doctor had opened the white doors, stepping out of them dramatically, jacket flapping against his sides. "All right, that's much better! Good as new!" He paused. "What?! Where'd she _go_?"

The girl hoisted herself up, realizing with a start how sore she was. "Over here," she groaned, massaging her shoulder.

"Ah! Hello, sorry about that! All fixed now!" The Doctor grinned, gesturing at his knee. While his pants were still bloodstained, the skin underneath was unblemished, like the wound hadn't even happened. "Anyway, like I said, this is my TARDIS. I told you what it stands for, yeah?"

Annie nodded, and he grinned.

"I should explain what that means, though. See, the TARDIS is a spaceship time-machine combo! It can take me- and anyone I choose to bring with me- to see anything and everything that ever did exist and everything that ever will exist. Anywhere in the whole universe!"

He spun on his heels, doing a giddy dance.

"And remember what I said earlier about not being human? Well, I wasn't kidding. I'm a Time Lord. Yes, yes, I know, 'but you look human, Doctor!'" He raised the pitch of his voice slightly, as if imitating someone. "No, _you_ look Time Lord!"

"So you're an alien?" Annie asked carefully, rolling her shoulders back.

"Well, yes, I suppose I am," He said, still with the mad, silly grin on his face. "Though I've spent so much time here on Earth, it's like home."  
"Why?" inquired the girl, "Earth isn't... I mean, it's great and all, I love it... not that I've ever... been to any other planets. But, um... there are... there are just so many _people_."

The Doctor looked at her, his face confused, his eyes betraying a hint of sorrow.  
"Annie... why are people a bad thing?"

Instantly the girl realized what he thought she meant, and she was quick to backtrack. "No, no, I don't mean... some of my best friends are people!" she squeaked, eager to bring back the cheerful mood. Realizing what she said, she mentally cringed. Of _course_ her friends were people, what else would they be?  
"I mean... agh, this is hard, p-putting my thoughts into words like this." her eyes shifted around the room, unwilling to look up at him, "I'm better with pictures. What I mean is... there are so many bad people, especially now. Ever watch the news?"  
The Doctor shook his head.  
"Exactly. I _hate_ watching it, because every day, you see drunk drivers killing everyone but themselves in an accident and celebrities who are suddenly drug addicts, robberies at gunpoint and-" she stopped, took a breath, "And middle schoolers dying of alcohol poisoning, there are children getting murdered or k-kidnapped-" her voice broke, her eyes gleamed, "_Children_. And a couple years ago there was this movie that came out, and some guy got into the theater with a gun and killed... I think it was twelve people, or maybe it was twenty-one, I just don't _remember_. B-but Doctor, the youngest was _six_."  
She turned her eyes back to The Doctor, swiping at them with her sleeve, and then she looked away again.

"The worst thing is though, s'that they don't even surprise anyone anymore. N-no one's shocked when a kid goes m-missing or dies because they did drugs or drank too much alcohol. The theater thing, _that_ got a bit more of a reaction, but even that, no one was really that-" a hiccup, a sniffle, "that surprised. And there are so _many_ shootings. Seems l-like every day there's a new horror story."

She looked at him again, rubbing her teary eyes with her forearm, and he just looked so unbelievably _heartbroken_ that it nearly broke her down into hysterics.  
She swallowed, sniffed, dried the tears.  
"What's" _sniffle_, "t-the matter?"  
The Doctor walked over to her and took her hands in his own. She flinched, surprised at the sudden contact.  
"Oh, Annie..." he whispered, his green eyes desolate, "You've lost your faith, haven't you?"

Annie squinted at him, her head tilted to the side, puzzled.

"That people can be good?"  
She looked down, biting her lip.  
"Well then," he said, his jaw set, "It's up to me to fix that."  
And then he was himself again, bouncy and silly and doing a _very_ good job of hiding the pain that Annie now knew was there.

"So, Analise O'Brien from New York," exclaimed The Doctor, "All of time and space, anything and everything. Where do you want to start?"

(Okay, 3rd chapter! Yey. Again, please tell me if there's anything I can do to make it better! And Annie is referring to the Aurora shooting, which is one of the most awful, sick things I've ever heard about. This is a few years into the future, so that's why she said it was a few years back. :3)


	4. Loveetorans

The yellow grass swayed in the light breeze, the blue bush's leaves rustling. The warm sun, its light tinted magenta, shone on a tiny pond, filled with periwinkle algae. Fire-red flowers dotted the golden strands of the sparse forest floor, their petals fading to light pink in the center. A few trees rose up, tall and foreboding, their dark trunks spreading to the buttery color of their star-shaped leaves. A strange light blue creature that looked like a cross between a bird and a fish slid into the pool, rippling the surface of the crystal clear liquid.  
In the middle of this strange but beautiful scenery, something went _vworp vworp vworp_.

The TARDIS faded in and out of sight several times before it finally decided that it was there to stay and fully materialized, flattening the meadowgrass beneath it. Its dark blue was foreign to the colorful world, the deep hue reserved for the rarest and most precious of gemstones.

The box's door opened, creaking slightly, and another thing strange to this world poked his head out and grinned. "Welcome to Caprinous 3, 200 million light years from Earth!" he shouted, flinging his arms up rather unceremoniously, "And the only known planet in the universe to have a violet sun!"  
This was met with no reaction. He fought the temptation to look behind him.  
"I _said_, welcome to Caprinous 3, 200 _million_ light years from Earth, and the _only known_ planet in the _universe_ to have a _violet sun_!"  
He exaggerated his movements and pronunciations this time, trying to catch someone's attention. When still no noise came from behind him, he turned back inside, shutting the door. "You know, I don't have to take you with me if you don't want-"  
His words were heard by no one but a sleeping girl.  
Analise was leaning forward, her head resting on her forearms, her long legs drawn up to her chest. Her hair covered her eyes, and her breath came out in soft snores with the rise and fall of her shoulders. She was still where she had waited earlier, nestled under the rim of the console, her back against the heart of the TARDIS.

The Doctor gave her a fond look, then turned his back to her, leaning against the rail of the TARDIS. He looked up at her, his beautiful machine, in all of her spiraling, massive glory.

"You like her?" he asked, addressing no one in particular. The machine hummed in response, a warm, resonating tone that sent a shiver through his body.

He smiled. "Me too. Saved a _moth_. No reason for her to do that, nothing _she'd_ gain, she actually lost something. No, she did it because she couldn't stand to kill."

The Doctor looked tired now, his shoulders slumped and his eyes half-open. "I've been traveling alone too long," he mumbled, still talking to the TARDIS, "Amelia was right. I can't do this. I'm getting violent again."

The machine shook a bit, her lights flickering.

He turned again, pushing his floppy hair out of his face. "But I can't just... I don't want anything like that to ever happen again to _anyone_. I'm dangerous. People around me get hurt. You've seen it," he waved his hands around, "Adric. Donna. Rose." he swallowed hard, "Amy and Rory. River."

The TARDIS's lights dimmed slightly, a comforting whirr echoing through her.

"I can't do this, can't travel alone, I'm losing it." sighed The Doctor, "My sense of right and wrong. But it's not gone yet, and I feel like this is wrong, for me to take anyone else with me, especially someone so young and with so much ahead of her."

The TARDIS shivered.

"What if," he said, "What if, what if, what if I- no, that's moronic. What about if- no, _stupid_!" He banged the side of his head. "Why would I even think of that..."

Annie stirred and mumbled something unintelligible.

The Doctor turned. "Oh, right. Nearly forgot she was here. Suppose I should wake her up now, she'll get an awful crick in her neck if she stays like that." The TARDIS quivered in silent agreement.

He paced over to her and bent down. "Annie," he whispered, "wake up." He frowned at the lack of a response and shook her elbow.

Instantly she was awake, her head snapping up and her eyes flashing open. There was a loud hollow sound as the top of her head collided with the TARDIS console, and she had somehow managed to maneuver her feet in a way that made The Doctor fall flat on his face.

"_Aaagh_!" she cried, rubbing the sore spot where her head had hit the console, "Jeez, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"Me?" he questioned, rolling over onto his back and sitting up, "You're the one whose head made the coconut noise!"

"S-sorry, I should have warned you," Annie said quietly, wincing as her fingers lightly brushed the tender patch, "I, um, I have a tendency to kind of... freak out if I wake up in a place I don't... I'm not familiar with."

"Kind of?"

She shrugged. "I dozed off in my dojo once, and now I can't relax even if I'm asleep. My senseis have the maturity of nine year olds."

"What did...?"

"They blew a megaphone in my ear."

"Ah."

She stood up, taking care that the spot that she had hit didn't bang into anything else. It would bruise, she realized as she helped the alien to his feet, barely flinching as he floundered around helplessly before managing to find his balance.  
"Thank you," he said politely, straightening his bow tie and gathering up the remaining scraps of his dignity. "Anyway, like I said earlier, this is Caprinous 3, 200 million light years from Earth, violet sun."

Annie grinned. She wasn't dreaming, she knew that now. She never felt pain in her dreams, and the bruise on the back of her head would remind her for weeks of how very real this all was.  
She took a deep breath and stepped outside. Her eyes, misty with excitement, danced hungrily over the landscape, drinking in every tree, every plant, the pale pink sky with the soft ruby clouds. Her memory was famously bad, and Annie wanted this picture to stay in her mind forever.

A slight pressure on her sneaker called her attention, and she looked downwards to see a little blue creature.

It was small in stature, maybe the size of a miniature poodle, covered in soft, downy blue fur. It had ridiculously big yellow ears that flopped to the side as it tilted its head at her. The fur around its neck was thick and yellow, forming almost a mane. Three antennae jutted from its catlike head, two with small yellow spheres and one in the middle with some more of the coarse yellow fur. Annie took one look at it and made a high-pitched sound.

"It's so cute!" she squealed, plopping down on the grass to sit closer to it. The thing's blunt feet patted at the ground.

"Ah, yes," The Doctor said, running a strange pocket-sized machine over the creature, who poked an orange tongue out and twitched its stumpy tail, "The Loveetora. They're the native species here, and this one is young. He's probably about..." he counted on his fingers, "Twenty Earth years, give or take a few."

Annie took a break from running her fingers through the creature's soft fur and gaped. "_Twenty_? _I'm_ not even twenty yet!"

"Yes, the Loveetora have an extremely long development period compared to other species. Physically, he's nearly reached his peak. They don't get very big. He's got the mental capacities of a human infant, though. They don't reach mental maturity until about fifty Earth years, which is about..." more counting on his fingers, "Three Caprinious spin cycles."

"Wow," Annie commented, impressed, "But if he's that young, shouldn't he have a family or something?"

The Doctor shook his head. "It takes a spin cycle for the eggs to incubate. Then they hatch, and live on their own for a few weeks, until the rest of their band comes for them. Those few weeks are crucial, they learn how to gather food and defend themselves."

"Huh." Annie said, going back to petting the young Loveetoran, who had started making a sound between purring and singing. She laughed.

"And, if I'm correct, the rest of the band should be here in about..." he stuck his tongue out, tasting the air, "ten minutes!" his cheerful smile vanished without warning, and he looked nervous.

"What's the matter?" asked Annie, putting the Loveetoran back on the ground.

"The Loveetoran are not a light footed species, and bands usually consist of thousands of them. So if they're that close, why can't we hear them coming?"

(Got kinda lazy at the end there, I'll probably re-do it later. Read and review! :3)


	5. The Old Man and His Grandson

A steely gray path cut through pale concrete walls. A man, tall and imposing in a black suit, hurried along it, his shoes clopping on the floor. He seemed to be in a rush, his palms sweaty and slick. He wiped them haphazardly on his ink-colored pants, leaving greasy sweat stains.

The long corridor seemed to stretch on forever. He walked quickly, covering several feet at a time, but it seemed he was going nowhere. The walls were uniform, each footstep the same as the last. Finally, there was a door, a big ugly thing seven feet tall. The man rapped on it three times with his knuckles.

"Come in," someone rasped from inside.

The man nodded. He clutched the handle and pushed, and stepped inside the room.

It was dark in there, the only light coming from two flickering ceiling lamps. Dust swirled, illuminated by the yellow-orange lights. The man shuddered. He'd always hated this room, and why _anyone_ would choose willingly to be here was beyond him.

"Ah, Percival," said the same voice as before, "So nice to see you. I _do_ hope everything is going according to plan."

Percival nodded. "Yes, sir," he said, keeping his eyes downcast, "The natives have been led away. It'll take them weeks to find their way back to the breeding ground, sir, and by then we'll be gone."

Something squeaked and groaned and in the darkness. "Oof," the voice said, "It's getting hard for me to get up now. I'm too old for this." There was a dry, creaky chuckle. "You're going to have to take up the family business from your old grandfather soon, Percy."

Percival shifted uncomfortably, running his fingers through his short blond hair. "Don't say that, sir, you're just shy of eighty. People live longer than they used to."

"True," said the voice, "and after this next shipment we'll have enough to support our family for years to come. You can retire at twenty-two, Percy. Ha!" the voice laughed, long and heartily, and Percival allowed himself a chuckle. "Twenty-two. Just remember who got you here! Me!"

"Yes, sir, it was you." Percy said, grinning. Retirement in his twenties _did_ sound good, he had to admit. "Can you come forward a bit, sir? I can't see you at all."

"Oh, stop it with that 'sir' business. I'm your grandfather, aren't I?" the voice said teasingly, "'_Sir_'. Bah! Call me Pop-pop for all I care," There came a wheezy grunt, and a clattering. "Here," said the voice, tossing something at Percival. He just barely caught it. There was a _click_ as he turned it on and a beam of light swept across the room. The ray illuminated vertical steel bars and tiny individual cells. There were hundreds of them, lining every vertical surface in the room.

The stream of light finally rested on a grizzled old man. Deep wrinkles lined his face, and he had a coarse gray beard that was somewhat darker than the scraggly hair on his head. He sat in a metal wheelchair, and he held some kind of device in his hand.

The device beeped. "Si- Grandfather?" Percival said.

"It means that the eggs have all hatched," said the old man, "and that we'd better start rounding them up,"

The thing beeped again, and this time it was loud and shrill and urgent. The old man whacked it with the side of his hand, the crease between his eyebrows deepening, but the thing only paused for a moment before it began to _wail_. Percival covered his ears, scrunching his face up and gritting his teeth. The old man fumbled with it for a few moments before he managed to shut it off, and the noise died.

"What," Percival said, shaking his head to clear it, "was _that_?"

"_That_," The old man grumbled, his black eyes glittering, "means that we have _visitors_."

(Sorry that this one's short! Annie and The Doctor will be back for the next one.)


	6. The Beast

"What do you mean, 'why can't we hear them'," Annie said, lowering the Loveetoran pup to the ground, "You said it yourself, they've got ten minutes 'till they get here."

The Doctor tasted the air again. "Fifteen minutes now. They're heading _away_ from the breeding ground and I don't know why. I _hate_ not knowing. _Why_ don't I know?"

"Maybe they're stopping for food?" piped Annie nervously, untangling her long legs and standing up, "I mean, they need to eat, right? Maybe... um, they found... they found a huge, giant- a giant meadow filled with whatever it is they eat and then- then they thought that they should eat before they got here. Maybe. I don't know."  
"No, they graze as they go along. Come on, come on..." The Doctor mumbled, rummaging through his pockets. He gave an excited cry that sounded suspiciously like "Eureka" and pulled out a long thin silver thing that was clawed at the end. He pressed a button at the end of it, and the green light at the other end glowed. A high-pitched sound echoed through the area. Annie winced. "What _is_ that?" she exclaimed, covering her ears.  
"A sonic screwdriver," The Doctor replied, examining it, "It does... stuff. Complicated science-y stuff. It's cool. Sonic screwdrivers are cool." He frowned.  
"What? What's it say?" Annie asked, nearly tripping on her way over to him.  
"It says that there's non-terrestrial technology here, cages built to trap," he said, his eyes dark, "In other words, we're in the middle of a ranch."

Annie blinked. "A... a ranch?" she asked, running her fingers as far as she could through her tangled hair, "Is that- that's a bad thing, then?"  
"Yes," The Doctor said, "That is a very, very bad thing. See, there's a special element here, one that all the creatures on this planet need to survive. It's very rare, and only found on this planet. It's called Caprinium, and it's part of what makes the plant life yellow. The Loveetorans, they eat the plant life, and the Caprinium is circulated to their brain. It helps their brains develop, especially when they're young, like this one," he pointed to the young Loveetoran, "But if they're removed from this element, if they don't have enough when they're developing, their mental growth is stunted. They're infants, in a sense. If taken off the planet when they're young, they only live to about fifteen years, and they live without their brain growing. They don't learn, they don't grow up. They die children."

"That's awful," Annie murmured, peering down at the blue creature.

"Yep, and that's why we're going to stop it," he said, scanning the area again with his screwdriver, "The hatching ground's this way! Come along, Po- ah, Annie. Come on." he grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the bushes, but stopped short when he heard a low, throaty growl.

Very, very slowly, they both turned around.

There was a huge six-legged creature, about the size of a small horse, standing in front of them. It's weight-bearing legs were splayed in a position that could only mean that it was ready to attack. It sliced at the air its two tiny, claw-like front arms.  
It was gleaming wet, thrashing it's glistening olive tail from side to side. The droplets scattered, catching the magenta light, and Annie flinched as one collided with her head. The creature bared its teeth, puffed out its ear-spikes, and _roared_.  
It was advancing now, the webbed talons flattening the yellow grass beneath its feet. It's teeth were sharp and yellow and stained with something that _might_ be blood. Annie glanced at its face.

"Doctor," she breathed, not daring to look away as she heard the sonic _whirring_, "It's got no _eyes_."  
"'Course not," he whispered back, glancing at the readings, "It's a cave dweller, lives underwater, only comes out to hunt. Probably lives under that little pon- pool, it should go down for miles."  
"What do we do?" she asked softly, "Just stand here?"  
"Don't really think we've got much of a choice in the matter. Just... don't talk. Don't make a sound."

The girl swallowed, her round blue eyes taking in the alien creature. The thing made a rumbling sound in the back of it's throat and stopped moving forward. Annie pursed her lips together. Every instinct she had was screaming at her to _run, don't look back it'll get you just run go go go run run run get out of here run run run-  
_The beast had paused, sniffing at the air through its slit nostrils. It twitched it's tail, shook it's head, and slowly turned away.  
And suddenly, Annie felt the need to sneeze.  
She held her breath, squinted, tried to stop it. Didn't looking at the sun make you stop sneezing? Or did that make you sneeze faster? She held her breath, not sure, and then, wishing very hard that she wouldn't sneeze, stared at the violet light of the sun.  
She felt the urge build up, _no no no it was to make you sneeze no I'm going to die we're both going to die-_

"Aaa- a- a-_CHOO_!"

The beast's head snapped up and around, the growl building up in it's throat again. It crept forward, teeth bared, back arched, tail thrashing. It's hot breath clouded on Annie's face. She turned her face to the side, screwing her eyes shut, _I don't want to die I don't want to die not here not now no no no no-_

There was another deafening roar and she thought she heard The Doctor calling her name. Annie stepped backwards without thinking, instinctively moving away from the source of danger, and tripped, slamming her back into one of the dark tree trunks. Her breath came out in short, terrified gasps. _I'm going to die here I don't want to no please please please please please-_

And suddenly she heard a tiny defiant squeak from behind her, a short crackle through the air followed by an intense wave of heat. Another roar came from the thing, and another sizzling sound to her left. Then there was a squelchy galloping sound fading into the distance, and a warm, comforting pressure on Annie's hand. She opened her eyes slightly to see the blue Loveetoran running a scratchy orange tongue across her hand. She laughed shakily, and moved out her hand to pet it. "Thanks," she whispered in a voice that cracked, scratching the alien under its chin._  
_

She snapped her head to the side at the rustling of leaves, the adrenaline not yet drained from her system. A shoe fought its way through the yellow leaves and blue-green vines, followed by an arm and a strangled cry of "Annie? Are you alright?"

Annie nodded her head vigorously before realizing that he couldn't see her. She stood up, gripping the rough tree-trunk for support (as she didn't quite trust her legs yet). A quick yank to his hand and The Doctor was free, though both landed roughly in the knee-deep yellow grass.

She was silent. The Doctor straightened himself out, and ran his screwdriver up and down her body. "Well, you don't seem hurt. You're sure you're alright?"

She nodded, quietly shifting into a more comfortable position. Satisfied, The Doctor loped over to the Loveetoran, and picked it up delightedly. "He shocked it, yeah? He's used up all his reserve electricity. He must be Loveetoran royalty or something, they're the only ones able to produce that kind of electricity at this age. He's taken a liking to you!" he said, swapping the small alien for his screwdriver and rubbing some kind of black goo off of it. He was so involved in it that he barely even heard her quiet mumble. "Sorry, what?" he asked, the screwdriver back in his pocket and free of the offending substance.

"I'm sorry," Annie murmured, her face hidden behind thick hair, "I- It was my fault- I didn't mean- I a-al- I almost got us- you- killed-"

"Hey, It's alright. It's fine- we're fine! I've been in plenty of worse situations. Not a scratch on me! Or you, for that matter."

She pushed herself up, shook the terror from her bones. "So, uh- ranch. These little guys... Lovelo- no, Loveetorans- they're gonna get- gonna be stolen. What are we going to do about that?"

The Doctor grinned.

(Sorry that took so long! I'd been hit by Sandy and had writers block and _school_... Anyway, I'm back now. Please R&R if you like it! c:)


	7. Sleeping Gas

"So what are the- the traps? Nets? A force field or something?" came a muffled, feminine, low-pitched voice. "Teleports? Why do- what do they e-even want the pups for?"  
"I don't know yet, still scanning," came the other voice, a British-sounding man, "And my guess is they want to sell them as pets. They're quite cute."  
There was a rustling sound and a purring noise. "I-i'm not gonna just keep calling him 'the pup'. I think I'll name him Zappo. Because of the-" a shadowy figure flailed its arms about, making sounds akin to lightning.  
"Yeah," was the short response, coming from the gangly-looking man bent over and surveying the area with a long whirring device.  
"This feels funny," the female said again, "I-i feel like something's watching us. 'C-course I feel like that a lot, but..." the figure shook her head. "I-it's probably... it's nothing."

Above them, nestled in the yellow-gold leaves of a tree, a camera narrowed its lens.

* * *

The old man sat, leaning forward ever so slightly, and stared into the screen. It was black and white- very bad quality for this day and age- and the voices were fuzzy, but he managed to make out most of what they were saying.

He knew this wasn't legal, knew the rules Shadow Proclamation. He knew that what he was doing was wrong. But he'd never been a particularly caring man to those he didn't know. His _grandson_ was another matter.

Percy- poor Percy. He, like his father and grandfather and great-grandfather before him, had grown up with nothing. Mismatched shoes, socks with holes in them, hell, their family barely had enough to pay for clean water.  
When Percy was born, he'd stared up at his father, who sniffed gruffly and handed him off to the next person- Percy's grandfather. And when sweet, innocent little Percy made a gurgling noise and patted him on the nose, the old man who hadn't been so old _then_ knew. He knew he'd have to save their family, give little Percy everything. Because unlike his father, Percy was pure. Sweetest child the old man had ever known. And watching him grow up and be bullied and hurt was painful. His father had died a few years back. Only Percy mattered anymore.

So the old man had steeled himself to the natives, ignored their pleads and attempts to rescue their children. They weren't an endangered race, and they left their children for weeks anyway. Why should it matter if he took them? Surely it was better than being picked off by predators. He didn't _hurt_ them, not really. A mild tranquilizer to get them captured and shipped, short-range teleportation (disorienting, but not dangerous) easy removement of the electricity-storing bulbs. They didn't live long, but as long as they were happy, right? He soothed his aching conscience, quieting it with comforting lies.

People paid good money for the creatures. And money changes a man.

He glanced at the red flashing button, labeled "INITIATE" and pushed it without hesitation.

* * *

_Whiirrrrrrrrrrrrrkrrkrrkrk_

"What was that?" Annie asked, nervously glancing around. They'd moved closer to the hatching ground, and Loveetoran pups wandered all around them. While one or two were nudging The Doctor curiously, the majority had gathered around Annie, who was left flustered and trying to pet at least a dozen multicolored aliens at once. The one she'd named Zappo remained firmly by her side, hissing at any of the others who got too close.  
"I dunno, didn't sound good." The Doctor responded, tearing his attention from a cluster of wires and brushing a stray pup out of the way, "Stop it, no! You can't eat my screwdriver!"  
Annie made a clicking noise, and the pup that was bothering The Doctor perked its ears up and bounded over to her. She patted its head gently, and was rewarded by a scratchy lick.  
"Blimey, they're all over you! Do you use any kind of special perfume?" he asked, closing his screwdriver.  
"_Mmmpho,_" was Annie's muffled response from the ground, as they'd managed to knock her over and one was sitting on her head. She gently shook it off. "No."

"Do you hear that?" The Doctor asked suddenly, tilting his head to the side.  
"Hear wha-" Annie's question was cut short as the gangly man turned to her and put a finger on his lips. "_Shooooooosh_."  
She blinked, grumbled, and strained her ears.

_Pwiiiishhhhh_

"It sounds like... air. A-air b-being- being let out of tires or something." Annie commented in a whisper.

"_Shhhhhhh"  
_

She coughed, suddenly finding the air around her to be sticky and difficult to breathe. "_D-doctor-_"

"Shut it, I'm _thinking_!"

One of the pups collapsed.

"Right. Okay. This isn't _bad_, but it's not good either. No, I'm lying. This is very not good, this is very, _extremely not good._ Breathe through your sleeve, stop breathing the air!" The Doctor snapped, suddenly moving again, "Get that pup, the rest of them seem to follow you. We've got to get back to the TARDIS."

"What's going on?" Annie demanded.

"Sleeping gas, covering this area- if we don't get back to the TARDIS quick enough we'll pass out and be affected by the teleport, which, by the way is _short-range_, so the people who started this whole thing can't be very far away." He explained, tugging her towards the direction of the TARDIS, "It's efficient, too, which means that this isn't their first batch, no, there've been _plenty_ more that they've taken. This is at _least_ a level five planet. Isn't the Shadow Proclamation a Universe-wide agreement? Why doesn't anybody ever _listen_ to it?!"

"What's the Shadow-"

"It's a universal law thing, I'll explain to you la-_aaaah!_" The Doctor drew his hand back very suddenly, and curled around it in pain. "Electric barrier- they've sealed us off. I thought... that I'd broken it!"

"If we can't get out, that means that we're- we're going to get teleported?" Annie whimpered, "Well, p-pass out first, and _then_ get teleported. O_-_okay. Sounds-" she coughed, doubling over and nearly dropping the snoring pup in her arms, " s-s-sounds fun..._"_

"Yeah, if I can't figure out how to turn off... how to turn..." he cleared his throat, "Off the, err, the thing. The electric... barrier... _yawn..._ thing..."_  
_

Another pup fell limp against her shoe.

"_Doctor!_" she called sharply, nudging him a bit. She could feel her eyelids drooping already. If The Doctor didn't turn off the barrier, they'd be in big trouble.

"Hmm? Oh. _Oh!_ Right. Okay. Barriers." He caught himself yawning again, and slapped himself on the cheek. "_Owww_... Yes. Sonic. I've got to sonic the barriers."

Annie swayed a bit on her feet. "Hurry..." she urged before yawning, which turned into another coughing fit.

"I'm... I'm trying... do you know... _yawn..._ how hard it is... to point and think... point and think when you're tired?"

"I c-can guess..." replied Annie, fighting to stay on her feet. She blinked her eyes shut and found that she couldn't open them again. Feeling her legs turn to jelly, she scrambled for something to cling to. Her hand brushed a branch before she fell. Some more whirring came from her right, but then a faint _whump_ told her dizzy mind that The Doctor had fallen as well.

A noise that sounded straight out of a sci-fi film overwhelmed her, and the last thing she was aware of was the sting of cold metal on her cheek.

(Okay, sorry that took a while! I think the next part is the last. I've got a lot of the story planned out already! :D)


End file.
